Code: Ratchet
by Bebuzzu
Summary: Ratchet and Clank travels to Earth to fix the paradoxes that has been accumulating in a particular area of the planet. He didn't expect to team up with a group of human children against a super computer who is trying to kill him 24/7. There was also the problem of him being an alien, wasn't there? What is a Lombax to do?
1. Ratchet AKA New Kid

**Huge thank you to Foenix Nightshade for beta-reading this for me! Since I read his/her fic which was yesterday, I've been wanting to give this a try. Pardon me if I get some facts wrong, I'm still a little green on Code Lyoko as I've only started watching a few days ago.**

**Disclaimer: Ratchet and Clank, and Code Lyoko does not belong to me. **

**Again, thank you for beta reading this Foenix, your comment was encouraging :3 Good luck on your fic.**

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><p><span>1. Ratchet AKA New kid<span>

"Note to self, keep eyes on the road." Ratchet chuckled, hopping off the Aphelion.

"Lombax, you try and drive me into another asteroid field, I will leave you stranded on an asteroid, do you hear me?!" Aphelion's voice said threateningly.

"That was an accident, I swear!"

"Calm down, you two."

"Try being thrown into an asteroid field and then calm down!"

What happened, you ask? Just a few moments ago, Sigmund contacted Clank to help him resolve some of the abnormalities that appeared in the Great Clock and Ratchet being the friend he was decided to tag along by driving them to the location with Aphelion. Somehow Ratchet got distracted by God knows how and drove Aphelion into an asteroid field, something the ship was obviously displeased about. They were lucky Ratchet had fast reaction, otherwise Aphelion would've been broken and they wouldn't be able to arrive at the Great Clock.

"It's great to see you two again." Sigmund greeted them happily, a grin on his face.

"It is good to see you too, Sigmund." Clank replied, managing to muster a smile from his metal mouth. "What seems to be the problem?"

"The Zonis reported several paradoxes overlapping an area of a planet somewhere at the far reaches of the universe." Sigmund started, hovering towards a control panel and tapped a few keys. A holograph of a mostly blue planet with some green and yellow land appeared at the centre of the room. "It's in the Milky Way Galaxy which hasn't been explored as much."

"The inhabitants of the planet includes mammals, amphibians, reptilian and- My, how interesting." Clank said, rubbing his chin.

"What? What does it say? I can't read Zoni you know." Ratchet asked, curiously and impatiently.

"The dominant species of the planet are the humans." Clank stated.

"Humans?!" Sigmund exclaimed with obviously shock, falling over to emphasise his shock.

Ratchet only cocked his head to the left. "Humans?"

"Ratchet, haven't you been reading those books I left for you?" Clank asked although the tone he took on suggested he already knew the answer.

"Books? What books?"

Clank gave an exasperated sigh before delving into the human species. "Humans were believed to be extinct as they had no been seen for years-"

"Ok, I get the idea. They were believed to be extinct like the Lombaxes." Ratchet interrupted his robotic friend before he could continue to explain and looked at Sigmund. "So there's a bunch of paradoxes overlapping in an area of that planet which is...?"

"The humans calls it Earth. It is approximately 71.11 percent in water which is still rising as we speak. The amount of land masses includes several small islands and seven or eight larger territories. Climates include tundras, taiga, temperate grassland, temperate deciduous forest, desert, tropical rainforest, mountain ranges and so on."

"Wow, that's a lot of climates." Ratchet commented, whistling and raising his brows. "So where's the area that is a meeting place for paradoxes? I doubt we can just walk all over the planet to find it." He said, looking at Sigmund.

Clank pressed some keys on the control panel, eventually making the hologram zoom in onto one of the large island where a square was. "This is the closest point I can find for the source of the problem."

"Say, if Earth has a bunch of paradoxes, how come you can't fix them from here?" The golden Lombax asked.

"Because that planet is not in one of our galaxies, it's in the Milky Way Galaxy. As Sigmund stated before, it hasn't been explored as much so the Clock can't reach out there. So we have to go there manually in order to fix the accumulated paradoxes." Clank explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

Ratchet just stared at the holographic image of Earth for a smile before breaking a grin. "I'm driving!"

"Hold on sir." Sigmund said quickly, causing the two to look at the robot. "I think it's best if you go to Earth disguised as one of them. Using a holo-guise of course." He added the last statement hastily.

"How come?"

"Although the humans are an intelligent race, they are also very wary of anything foreign to them, and since they've never seen another race from space, they might do unnecessary things." Sigmund explained.

"Some precautionary actions may be needed. We are heading for a planet we do not know much about as well as the race, and who knows what they will do." Clank agrees and as usual, his logic overrules all excuses.

"Alright, I'll bring along the holo-guise. We're going to need a template for the disguise though." Ratchet pointed out.

"Here are the coordinates. I'll contact you two again when you're near Earth." Said Sigmund, handing Clank the coordinates.

"Right, we'll see you again later Sigmund."

"Take care of the Clock, Sigmund."

"I will, sir!"

Aphelion lifted off the ground when Ratchet and Clank approached her. "Oh no, you are not driving me through another asteroid field, I swear Lombax if you do that again-"

"Relax, Aphelion. I got the message loud and clear." Ratchet assured although his smile said otherwise, climbing into the ship along with Clank and gripped on the steering wheels.

"Earth? That's quite a long way, you know." Aphelion commented when Clank downloaded the coordinates to her. "You better prepare to sit for a long time."

"Or... We could use those carbonic thrusters?"

"Ratchet, that's how we got into the asteroid field."

"Come on Clank, that was one time!"

**-Kadic Academy-**

**Cafeteria, The Lyoko Gang**

The cafeteria was booming with boys and girls, each with a tray of food in their hand and sitting with their friends on a table. Yumi was sitting on a table her friends usually occupied with her food in front of her and a finger impatiently tapping away from waiting for them. On her left was Jeremy, eating his food slowly so he wouldn't finish by the time the others had arrived.

"Geez, they're sure taking their beauty sleep aren't they." Yumi sighed.

Meanwhile at the line of people waiting for their food to be served, Odd was waiting and eyeing the food hungrily. Today, they were serving meatball and spaghetti, and potato and steak. He moved his eyes to the boy in front of him who had a thoughtful expression.

'I don't think I've ever seen him before. Maybe he's a new kid?' With that thought, Odd decided to tap on the boy's shoulder, successfully attracting his attention. "Hey, you new around here?"

"Huh? Oh yeah I am." He replied with a surprised tone, blinking his bright green eyes. He had blonde hair like Odd but appeared to be lean towards the orange colour more, and was styled in a way that it split into two, making it look like two long ears. The idea of them being actual ears were emphasised by three faint stripe marks on the hair in darker orange. The only thing he was missing was a tail.

He wore a black and orange shirt with a brown harness over it, a small metal plate on the strap of the harness that ran across his chest. His dark blue pants were slightly baggy at the end where his brown boots hid some of the excess material and his hands were covered by brown gauntlet gloves.

"If you're wondering about what food to get, I suggest the spaghetti and meatball. Rosa's meatballs are so brilliantly made, you would have to be mad to deny such delicacy." Odd said dramatic, putting a hand over his forehead and leaned back to look like he was about to faint, but he quickly stood up before he could fall.

"Thank you Odd for that comment." Rosa smiled at Odd sweetly. "But you're still not getting extra meatballs." She added with a sly tone.

"Aw man." Odd whined, slouching and turned his attention back on the new boy. "If I were you, I'd get the spaghetti but if you're not a pasta loving guy, go for the steak."

The new boy stared at the two food before cluelessly looking at Odd. "I've never had either of them." He said with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head.

"What?!" Odd nearly toppled over. "How is that possible?! Outrageous, horrible, cruel! Who in the world could deprive a growing boy of spaghetti and meatballs, and steak and potatoes?!" He swung an arm over the other blonde's shoulder and looked at Rosa with a cheshire grin. "Rosa, you must give him half and half since he's new and all."

"Of course, Odd." Rosa giggled, putting food on the other boy's tray. "Never the same as the day before as usual."

"It has been a pleasure being the entertainment then." Odd said in a mock humble manner, ending with a bow. He looked at the other boy. "You should sit with my friends. They're really cool and awesome. By the way, I'm Odd."

"Ratchet, nice to meet you." Ratchet introduced himself.

"Yeah, you're going to fit in nicely with us." The purple wearing boy nodded with approval and guided Ratchet to the table where Yumi and Jeremy were sitting.

"Morning Odd, where's Ulrich?" Yumi asked immediately when she saw the brown haired teen nowhere around and noticed Ratchet. "Who's the new kid?"

"His name is Ratchet." Odd answered, sitting down across Yumi and Ratchet following his action. The eccentric boy proceeded to shove as many food as he could inside his mouth, gaining him an irritated looks from Yumi and Jeremy.

"I'm Yumi, I hope Odd hasn't driven you to insanity yet."

"I'm Jeremy, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Ratchet said, eating bit of his food.

Yumi looked around the cafeteria with a strange look. "Where's Ulrich?"

"You called?" Ulrich asked, heading towards the group's table and sitting down beside Yumi.

"Ratchet, this is Ulrich. Ulrich, meet new kid, Ratchet." Yumi introduced the two to each other.

"Hey, you're that boy from the factory." Ulrich said surprised, raising his brows.

"And you're the guy who took me here." Ratchet chuckled.

"You guys know each other already?"

"Yeah, I found him wondering around in the factory." Ulrich revealed, gaining concerned looks from his friends. "He somehow got lost while trying to find a way to the school so I took them here."

"Why did you go there anyway, Ulrich?"

"Was it Sissi?" Yumi asked expectedly. Ulrich gave her a nod. "That girl is persistent, isn't she?"

"Too persistent. It's been three years and she still hasn't picked up the message." Said Jeremy.

"Who's Sissi?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"The principal daughter and might I add, most obnoxious girl within the school." Yumi said, making a face at the last comment.

"She's been after Ulrich for three years now." Odd added, taking a break from devouring his food.

"She hasn't stopped at all, even though I told her millions of times I don't like her one bit." Ulrich groaned.

"You best stay away from her. She's really horrible, especially to us." Jeremy advised.

"You have a long history with her, don't you?" Ratchet chuckled, bemused and stood up. "Well, I'm going back to my room. I might see you guys in class. See you later." The boy put his tray at the returning station and left the cafeteria.

"He's pretty nice, don't you think?" Odd commented and with all of the grace he had, burped loudly.

"Ew, Odd!" Yumi scolded, scrutinising her face in disgust. Odd merely laughed at her reaction.

The day progressed with Ratchet being late to class but he got off the hook by saying he was lost, and as a new student it was natural for him to lose himself in the hallways of the building. The teacher was displeased by this and warned Ratchet should he be late again, he would receive a detention.

"Sit at the table which is two tables down where Miss Stones is who will be your partner for the remainder of the year." The teacher, Mrs Hertz said. Ratchet stuck his tongue at her when she wasn't looking and sat down next to his pink haired partner.

"Hi I'm Aelita, your new partner." Said Aelita, putting out a petite hand.

"I'm Ratchet." He replied, shaking hands with her.

Aelita's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh, you're the boy Jeremy was talking about."

"You know Jeremy?"

"He's my best friend as well are Odd, Yumi and Ulrich."

"Ahem, if you've finished introducing yourselves, may we please get on with the lesson." Mrs Hertz said and turned to the board. "In your books, turn to page 127..."

Needless to say, Ratchet fell asleep and Aelita had to wake him up three times before he could get caught.

"Thanks for not getting me into trouble on my first day, Aelita." Ratchet thanked the girl gratefully.

"Next time, try not to fall asleep then." Aelita teased in a mock reprimanding tone.

Ratchet chuckled and began to head for the dorm when Aelita stopped him. "Wait, do you want to have dinner with my friends?"

"Er, sure why not." Ratchet replied and followed her to the cafeteria. He was greeted by the sight of a long black haired girl talking with Ulrich and judging by the male's looks, he was annoyed by the mere presence of the girl.

"Ulrich sweetie, if you know what's good for you, you better ditch them and sit with me." The girl threatened, folding her arms.

"Sissi, haven't you realised the reason I don't sit with you?" Ulrich growled. "It's because you're as obnoxious as a pig."

"I am not obnoxious!" The girl, Sissi protested, her voice raising by several octaves higher.

"Hey Ulrich, what's going on?" Ratchet asked, intervening the conversation before it took a turn for the worst.

"Hey Ratchet, Aelita, glad to see you two." Ulrich said with relief and jabbed a thumb at Sissi. "Sissi isn't leaving me alone as usual."

"Because you know you can't resist me." Sissi winked at him, sending shiver down both Ulrich and Ratchet's spine.

"See what I mean?" Ulrich said exasperatedly.

"Three years of that? I'm more surprised how you haven't gone crazy from that yet." Ratchet laughed.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Sissi said rudely and scrunched up her face. "What kind of hairdo is that? I thought that crazy idiot was the only one who had weird hair. Are you his brother or something? If you are, I feel sorry for you to be related to him."

Something snapped inside Ratchet and in just a second, the warmth around Ratchet disappeared. He grabbed her collar, gave her a hard glare that promised death, and his teeth bared in a way it almost seemed animalistic. "It's obvious nobody wants you around, you little prick. Unless you want me to tie you up and send you flying out there in the moon, I suggest you get out and bother someone else. And Odd isn't crazy, compared to you he is anything but crazy. Now get out of my sight where I can't see that pathetic excuse for a face."

Sissi gave a weak "okay" and once Ratchet released her, she sped off. For a moment, Ulrich and Aelita stared at the back of Ratchet's head, shocked at the newly revealed side of him.

"So," the blonde boy abruptly turned around, startling them for a bit. "Are we gonna head to dinner?" The friendliness around him had returned and all evidence of his cold attitude disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"Uh, yeah sure. The others are right over there." Ulrich said, trying to hide the nervousness in his tone and took them to the table. Ratchet couldn't help but feel ashamed he had lost his cool completely, in front of his new friends nonetheless! No doubt they'd be cautious and suspicious around him. Ratchet quickly ate his food, and excused himself from the table.

"Did Sissi bother you again?" Yumi asked with concern where she saw the disturbed look on Ulrich's face.

"It's not only her but..." The brunette shook his head quickly. "Never mind, I'll tell you guys later."

His friends eyed him suspiciously but decided to let the matter pass.

**-Kadic Academy-**

**Boys Dormitory, Ratchet's room**

"So how was today's school lessons?" Clank asked, the little robot on the bed reading the newspaper. Ratchet had taken off the holo-guise to tinker around with the gadget, his tail swishing back and forth on the chair as his hands worked on the object.

"Boring, human teachers never shut up." Ratchet replied, letting out a loud yawn.

"Did you make any friends?" Clank's question made his tail freeze, causing the robot to curiously look up from the papers and blink at the Lombax. His ears had flattened, indicating something bad had happened.

"Sure did, but I sort of lost it in front of them." Ratchet said with a sigh, putting the gadget back on his wrist but he didn't turn it on and went to sit on his bed beside Clank.

"What happened?" The small robot had put the papers down and gave questioning looks to his organic friend.

"I got angry at this human girl. But she was asking for it!" Ratchet insisted, remembering how the girl insulted his friend. "She called one of my friends crazy and that she pitied me for being related to him if I was!"

"Now now Ratchet, you must calm down. Losing yourself to anger isn't a good way to blend in with the people here." Clank reminded calmly and in a few minutes, managed to cool the golden furred Lombax's head off. "You should probably go to sleep."

"That I will do."


	2. Black Out

**Massive thank you to Foenix Nightshade for editing this into a awesome chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Ratchet and Clank, and Code Lyoko do not belong to me**

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><p><span>Chapter 2. Black Out<span>

**-Kadic Academy-**

**Math Class**

Ratchet glanced at the ticking clock urgently, drumming his fingers impatiently on the table as countless words spilled from the teacher who has yet to shut up. Why was he doing this again?

... Oh yeah, to 'blend in' better according to Clank. That robot has been shooting too many Secret Agent Clank episodes.

"After finding the result from the sum of the squared numbers, you find the square root of the result and simplify it." The teacher whose name was long forgotten by the Lombax rambled on, writing an equation of numbers and tiny numbers with umbrellas on the black board.

'What's the point of learning this mumbo jumbo?' Ratchet thought, quietly yawning into his glove and leaning on one arm. He was seriously going to pass out at this rate, and Aelita was nowhere to wake him up. His eyes looked up at the clock again, which was slowly taking its time to tick, the inanimate object completely ignoring the impatient vibes Ratchet was emitting.

He'd rather suffer one of Qwark's 'Hero Lessons.' At least then he didn't have to pay attention and could freely throw his wrench at the current Galatic President of Polaris. Now that was fun, and a good way to kill time whenever he didn't feel like doing anything at all, which happened every now and then.

Ratchet nearly jumped when the bell gave a shrill ring, indicating that class was over, and everyone got up from their seats to pack up and leave. The ringing hadn't left his ears. Ratchet visibly twitched an eyebrow when chair legs screeching on the floor, adding to his discomfort. The Lombax found it a wonder that he had not become deaf at this point.

'And it's only been four days,' the Lombax lamented inside his thoughts.

"Earth to Ratchet?" Odd's voice broke through the ringing, a hand waving in front of Ratchet's eyes up and down, similar to what Qwark usually did whenever he fell asleep during his 'hero lessons.'

"Huh, what?"

"Class is over. Anyway, do you want to join us for a soccer game?" Ulrich asked.

"Soccer?"

"Don't tell me you've never heard of soccer!" Odd guessed. The Lombax only shrugged. Odd did a double take and took on the same shocked expression he had when he found out Ratchet never tasted spaghetti and steak with potatoes. "First the food, now soccer? What kind of life have you been living all this time?"

"I just don't go out a lot, usually I stay home." The statement was not a total lie, truthfully. Ratchet usually stayed at his garage in Veldin unless his sorry tail was somehow dragged out by Qwark.

"We'll teach you," Ulrich offered, pulling Ratchet out of the classroom. "Now come on!"

Ulrich and Odd did not stop pulling Ratchet along until they arrived at the courtyard where other students were waiting. Amongst them, Ratchet could see Jeremy, Aelita and Yumi.

"So did you finally get another player to join?" A brown haired boy – Ratchet would later learn his name to be Theo – took notice of Ratchet. "Who's this guy?"

"Ratchet. He came to our school four days ago remember?" Ulrich reminded with a roll of his eyes. "Anyway, now we have twelve players altogether, the game can start right? Any objections?"

"You guys still haven't told me how to play soccer," Ratchet mentioned bluntly, tapping his foot on the ground. After Ulrich explained the system that functioned in soccer and the rules, Ratchet looked at them. "So there are two teams with the same amount of players. Right?"

"Yes."

"And both team need to shoot at the other team's goal."

"Pretty much."

"However, you can't use your hands, only the goalie can."

"If you do, you get a penalty."

"I think I've got it." Ratchet nodded and grinned. "What are we waiting for?"

Odd and Ulrich smiled at each other and got into positions. Ratchet was positioned at the middle left side with Odd at the other side, and Ulrich at the center with Theo. Ratchet watched the boy carrying the ball carefully and felt his invisible tail swaying in anticipation.

"Start!" The boy threw the ball up. Time seemed to slow down as Ulrich and Theo both jumped up to knock the ball away using their heads. Ulrich reached the ball first, knocking it to Odd. Ratchet took it as a sign to start following the ball when Odd dribbled.

Yumi, Jeremy, and Aelita watched with amusement as Ulrich, Odd, and Ratchet kept passing the soccer ball to each other at a rapid pace, making it hard for Theo's team to intercept. For a first time player, Ratchet was doing well with intercepting the other team and kicking the ball towards Odd or Ulrich.

There was a wave of cheers when Theo took the ball from Odd, and the brunette was quickly making his way to the goal. He was about to shoot when Ratchet slid almost directly in front of him, effectively blocking the ball from its original course and sending it rolling towards Ulrich. Ulrich quickly made it past Theo's team by passing the ball back and forth between himself and Odd, and the two of them scored a goal.

"Nice shot, Ulrich!" Ratchet called in remark.

"Thanks, Ratchet, but you secured that goal for us. If you hadn't blocked that shot, we would've be at a disadvantage," Ulrich replied.

"You know, he's pretty good at soccer for a first timer. Hey Ratchet, have you thought about joining the school's soccer team?" Odd inquired.

Ratchet was about to speak when Ulrich interrupted him. "Odd, the game isn't even over yet. Get back to position," he commanded.

"Ok, ok! But Ulrich, you have to admit Ratchet is a natural at this," Odd added, returning to his position. Ratchet smiled at the compliment and returned to his own spot.

'Maybe school won't be so deathly boring after all,' Ratchet thought as the ball was launched into the air again, and another round began.

**-Kadic Academy-**

**Dormitory building**

"That. Was. Awesome!" Ratchet cheered, punching his arms up in the air when the game was finished, with their victory, of course.

"That was a great game," Odd agreed with a wide smile. "So what do you say, Ratchet? Do you want to join the soccer team?"

After playing an exciting game of soccer, Ratchet saw no reason to refuse. "Why not? It's pretty fun."

"Great. I'll talk to Jim about it," said Ulrich, feeling happy that another of his friends would likely be joining the soccer team.

"I think I'm going to go back to my room. See you guys at dinner," Ratchet said and headed down the corridor to his room. Ulrich blinked repeatedly, and then rubbed his eyes just when Ratchet was out of sight.

'I'm probably tired. Yeah, that's it.' Ulrich convinced himself mentally, looking at Odd. "Come on, Odd, we should go back to our room now."

"You're right, I wonder if Kiwi is hungry yet." Odd chuckled in amusement and followed his brunette friend to their room.

'I must be really tired to want to go to sleep already,' Ulrich thought, letting out a heavy yawn. Yes, he was tired, that was it. It was just a trick of the lights or something.

Because there was absolutely no way that Ratchet had a tail, even if it was a shadow.

**-Kadic Academy-**

**Ratchet's room**

"You seem to be in a good mood, Ratchet," Clank pointed out when he noticed Ratchet had not exploded into another tirade of complaints as soon as he entered the room.

"Glad you've noticed, Clank. I'm joining a soccer team!" Ratchet announced proudly, jumping onto his bed.

"A soccer team?" Clank repeated, intrigued by the term.

"Yeah, it's a team that plays this game called soccer. Odd offered me to join the soccer team, and I said yes, so Ulrich said he'd go and ask Jim, the fat man in red," Ratchet explained to his robotic companion, lying down on his stomach and letting his tail wag slowly like a dog's. "It's so fun to play; we need to get our friends to play as well."

"What exactly do you do in soccer?" Clank queried curiously.

"In soccer, all you have to do is kick a ball to the other team's goal post. You're not allowed to use your hands at all because if you do, the other team gets a penalty kick which is a free kick for them. You're also not allowed to physical get them." Ratchet easily recited the rules to the small robot.

"I see..." The robot nodded in understanding, quickly processing the information and storing it in his data banks.

"Oh yeah, Clank. Did you find the source of the paradoxes yet?" Ratchet asked.

"It is nearby here, that is for sure," Clank confirmed. "I suggest we search for it during the night when everyone is asleep."

"Good idea, buddy." The golden Lombax grinned, but then his ears perked up, the smile quickly disappearing. Ratchet swiveled his ears a bit to the left, then to the right until he began to hear sizzling and cackling. "Do you hear that Clank?"

"No, I do not," Clank replied, getting off the desk and walking up to Ratchet.

Ratchet kept his ears up, there was a noise aside from the static. He waited for a while until he heard the faintest sound of a warped voice, which was fading away. Suddenly the lights flickered once and died, plunging the room into darkness. Ratchet could only see his floor and desk, lit by the moonlight, and Clank's red antennae and green optics glowed in the dark.

"Clank, forget about waiting. We gotta go, now," Ratchet stated urgently, lowering his body so Clank could jump onto the back of his harness and left the room.

If he remembered it correctly, most of the students should be at the cafeteria for dinner. This meant that he could cover more ground without having to worry being seen. He turned off the holo-guise to save power. Using his sensitive ears, Ratchet went up and down the hallways to chase after the source of the warped voice. He skidded to a halt when he went through probably the twentieth hall, ears swiveling again.

He waited for a bit, but immediately flattened his ears when the cackling and sizzling suddenly became too loud. "Damn, I can't hear it anymore. There's too much static."

"Ratchet, there are two organics approaching to the corner on your right," Clank informed him.

Ratchet nearly jumped out of his fur when an ear splitting scream invaded in his ear, causing the Lombax to stumble back into a wall.

'Seriously?! That's the second time my ear has nearly fallen off today!' Ratchet thought, feeling his back hitting the wall. The ringing in his ear failed to let him hear the sound of something falling to the ground with a clatter, and someone falling over.

"Ow, my ears feel like they're going to die...!" Ratchet hissed, rubbing his sore ears and quickly activating his holo-guise.

"Come on Milly, we have to go back!" A girl's voice urged.

"I-I can't move my legs, Tamiya!" Another squeaked fearfully.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Ratchet called out warily, peeking out of the wall. He shielded his eyes when they were assaulted by a bright light.

"Oh, it wasn't a monster after all; it was just Ratchet." Ratchet could distinctly make out a red haired girl and a brown haired girl with an odd hair style. He recognized them as Milly and Tamiya, the two girls who worked for the Kadic News.

"Hey, Milly and Tamiya," he greeted them and noticed Milly was on the floor. "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Sort of." Tamiya laughed halfheartedly. "We thought you were some sort of monster."

"How come? I wasn't even past the corner when you screamed." Ratchet rose a brow; he was certain he made no noise for others to be alerted of his presence.

"When Milly shined the torch on that wall, there was the shadow of…something," the brown haired girl explained, picking up the fallen torch and shining it at the wall where Ratchet's shadow supposedly was.

"It looked a bit like a cat actually, it had two long pointy ears and a tail too," Milly added, holding up her index and middle fingers, and putting them on each side of her head to shape out the ears.

"Do I really look like a cat?" Ratchet asked with a slight tone of disappointment. He remembered reading about them, and how Clank remarked on how much they resembled the Lombaxes.

"With your hair like that, yeah you do look like one," Milly admitted, taking a good look at Ratchet's hair.

"Ok, Milly you should get up now," Tamiya suggested, standing up. Milly nodded but when she leaned on her left leg, she cried out in pain and fell back onto the floor. "Milly, what's wrong?"

"I-I think I sprained my ankle," Milly answered, wincing when she touched the injured appendage. Tamiya shined the torch on her left ankle where a nasty bruise was already developing.

"Ouch. That looks pretty painful," Ratchet muttered, cringing as he let Clank hop off his back. "Clank, pretend you're in deactivated mode until something is wrong or I call you out." Clank didn't question the Lombax's motive as he did as he was told, folding his arm and legs inside his metal box body, his lenses closing to make it appear that he was in sleep mode.

"Tamiya, can you hold onto my robot for me?" Tamiya shot him a puzzled look, but it changed into a surprised expression when Ratchet gave her Clank. "Take care of him for me, please. Milly, get on my back, I'll carry you." Ratchet faced his back towards the pigtailed girl and at once felt her securing herself on his back. He stood up and was surprised how light the girl was.

"Tamiya, do you know where should we go now?" He asked the brown skinned girl. "We should get out of the building, I don't have a good feeling about this."

Tamiya nodded and turned around. "Follow me."

**-Kadic Academy-**

**The Cafeteria**

Ulrich looked around to see no Ratchet in sight.

"That's weird, he said he'd be here by dinner…" Ulrich wondered out loud, returning to his seat.

"Maybe he lost track of the time," Odd suggested casually, shoveling in a large quantity of mashed potatoes in his mouth and swallowing it with a great big gulp. "You know how many times Ratchet lost count of time whenever he's by himself. Take today for example: he didn't even notice everyone in class was gone until ten minutes later."

"But, Odd, it's already past twenty minutes," Ulrich pointed out, glancing at the clock, which read 8:24 pm. "Don't you think that's pretty late, even for Ratchet?"

"Ulrich! Odd!" The two boys saw Aelita running up to them, the pinkette quickly stopping in front of them to catch her breath.

"What's the matter Aelita?" Ulrich asked and narrowed his eyes. "Is it X.A.N.A?"

"Jeremy's scanner detected an activated tower," Aelita replied. "We have to get to Lyoko, fast."

"Wait, how come Jeremy hasn't called us yet?" Odd asked, furrowing his brows.

"When Jeremy called me, the call suddenly dropped and since then, I haven't been able to call him," Aelita informed them with a worried tone.

Suddenly the lights in the cafeteria shut down, startling many of the students inside and erupting a wave of worried speeches.

"Kids, stay calm! It's just a black out!" Jim barked over the murmurs and frowned at the broken lights.

"Let's get to the factory then," Ulrich suggested, running out of the cafeteria with Odd and Aelita following close behind him. They ran to the park where a manhole leading to the sewer was and were about to pass through the passage when Aelita noticed sparks jolting from the metal.

"Wait, Odd-" Aelita started when Odd yelped, jumping back and clutching to his hand which had been shocked. "We can't use the park's passage, it's filled with electricity."

Ulrich muttered a curse. "Does X.A.N.A intend to trap us here again?"

"This time by charging things with electricity, huh?" Odd mused, recovering from his shocked encounter. "It's just like back then when we were trapped in the cafeteria, huh, Ulrich?"

"Don't remind me." Ulrich frowned at remembering the event and looked at Aelita. "Is Jeremy in the factory or his room?" he asked quickly.

"I believe he is already at the factory," Aelita responded.

Ulrich bit his lips before saying, "How are we going to get there then? We can't call anyone."

They were all silent, thinking of different methods to leave the campus and go to the abandoned factory.

"I'm still curious why X.A.N.A only charged up the electricity in the air," Aelita thought out loud.

"Yeah, by now wouldn't there be a life endangering thing happening now?" Odd joked. Just as soon as those words left Odd, there was a loud cackle in the air. The trio watched as electricity gathered from all over the campus, forming a shocking web around them. In a few moments, a monster composed of electricity was towering before them, screeching loudly.

"Now look what you've done!" Ulrich scolded, irritated.

"How was I supposed to know that X.A.N.A. liked to jinx people?" Odd protested.

The argument was postponed when Aelita screamed, "Get down, Ulrich!" Said brunette quickly dropped to the floor just as an orb bursting with electricity flew at where his head was, the orb singeing a few strands of his hair.

"Run!" Ulrich yelled, getting up and quickly running from the electric monster as Aelita and Odd followed him. One of the orbs nearly struck Aelita, causing her to lose her balance and trip.

"Aelita!" Odd halted in his tracks and reached out for the girl to pull her away from the approaching monster, but by then it was already behind her, charging another orb. In automatic reflex, Aelita brought up her arms to shield herself and waited for the pain to come. Surprisingly feeling nothing, she cracked an eye open.

"Aelita? Aelita, can you hear me? Speak to me!" Odd was shaking her gently.

"Where's the monster?" Asked Aelita, getting up with Odd's help.

"It suddenly stopped the attack and headed for the dormitory building," Ulrich answered, gazing after the creature in puzzlement. This new behavior X.A.N.A had shown wasn't like him at all.

"We have to stop it," said a determined Odd, looking at the building. "Kiwi is in there and so is Ratchet."

"How are we going to stop it? We have no way to defend ourselves," Aelita pointed out, not bothering to hide her concern.

"Still, we have to!" The blonde boy insisted.

Before another debate could break out, Ulrich decided to step in. "Hold on. First we should find a way to get that thing or the people inside out. I go for the first option. How about you guys?"

"First," Odd responded immediately.

"If you think the first is the good option, I agree that we should lure it out," Aelita conceded with a sigh.

"Good now let's go." Ulrich led the way, following the monster's path and entering the building.

As that occurred, more happened within the dormitory. Ratchet, Milly, and Tamiya were on their way to the exit of the building when the torch died abruptly, sending them into darkness.

"Uh, Tamiya..?" Ratchet called out for the brunette, feeling the dreaded sense of being alone.

"That's weird; the batteries shouldn't have died that fast," Tamiya said, followed by the sound of something be shaken. Ratchet assumed it was the torch. The light of the torch flickered back on, and Tamiya's face, now visible, smiled.

"There, a good shake did it-" Tamiya started, but when she shined the torch's beam on Ratchet, she let out a terrified scream, dropping the torch and causing the light to die again. Ratchet spun around to see what had caused the girl to scream and probably faint from what he heard. He couldn't see anything even with the dim moonlight and looked back to where Tamiya's body was.

"It appears Miss Tamiya has fainted," Clank reported, stretching out his limbs from their folded state.

"Well, son of a Qwark," Ratchet muttered. "How did that happen though?"

Clank's green lenses blinked once before replying, "It appears that the electricity in the air is causing your holo-guise to malfunction, rendering it useless."

Ratchet's brow rose, and he stuck his arm experimentally in the moonlight to see the familiar yellow fur. "... Double son of a Qwark…" he cursed, carefully placing Milly against the wall near Tamiya before leaving the duo. The last thing he needed was two humans blabbing about seeing his real form; one would be enough already. He just hoped she would think it was a dream when she woke up again.

"I am picking up a massive amount of electricity coming our way, Ratchet. Be careful; it does not seem natural," Clank warned, jumping up to return to his place on Ratchet's harness. However, the robot was too late to do so when suddenly an energy orb sparking with electricity was shot towards Ratchet. The Lombax quickly jumped back to avoid being struck. He stared at the sizzling spot on the floor where he had been just a second ago and looked up.

Standing a short distance from him was an incredibly deformed creature, vaguely shaped like a Blarg, with electricity sparking off its body. Its white eyes with A shaped pupils glared down at Ratchet and Clank.

"Make that triple son of a Qwark." Ratchet laughed weakly and yelped when the Blarg like monster created another energy ball the size of a beach ball and threw it at the Lombax who ducked at the last moment.


End file.
